In the housing and commercial building industry, it is a well known fact that wall heights in structures tend to shrink or settle, which can cause ripples, waves, or other problems to the wallboard on the walls. It has therefore become good practice in buildings with wood studs to install the wallboard tight against the ceiling and to leave a sufficient gap between the wallboard and the floor to absorb any shrinking or settling, thus avoiding buckling or rippling of the wallboard. Wallboard is manufactured in panels up to sixteen feet long, but only four feet in width. Therefore it has also become good practice to install the panels horizontally on walls of more than four feet of horizontal length. This practice builds a stronger wall and minimizes the number and length of joints between panels, which joints must be covered to produce a smooth, finished wall. The foregoing good practices are most efficiently accomplished by installing the panel on the wall, horizontally, against the ceiling first. This panel must be held up tight to the ceiling while it is fastened to the wall. All subsequent panels on the same wall must be held up tight to the bottom edge of the panel above them while they are fastened to the wall.
This has been accomplished either manually, requiring at least two workmen to perform the task, or by some means of mechanical apparatus as disclosed in prior art inventions. Said prior art has focused on providing a device which may allow a single workman to perform the steps as outlined above, but has not met the need for an easily transported device which does not require assembly.
This invention meets the desirability of portability by virtue of its dimension not exceeding 18 inches in length. It is easily transported in one hand, set in operational position by one individual, and does not require any pre-assembly of parts or multiple consecutive adjustments of the device to achieve the desired placement of wallboard.